What Season Would You Rewrite?

I love Cangel. Cordy and Angel are made for each other 🥰 The only thing I blame the writers for is not getting them together before they destroyed Cordy.

The worst romance has to be Wesley and Fred. It's so predictable that they would get together eventually.
 
"Virgin" was his word, and I felt I had to translate. What it comes down to is that suddenly throwing two love triangles on us made it seem more like Buffy than Angel, and he prefers Angel and therefore does not care for it. It made Angel feel less adult (erotic references aside) and more like a teen soap opera.

(On a side note, I don't remember Wes having sex with Lilah before this.)
 
IN MY OPINION:

Of Buffy:
A little bit of season 6…the story and idea is good and interesting, but it’s a little…yikes.
All of season 7. (Except maybe early fun episodes. I’m looking at you, “Him”. You made me laugh out loud)
I’m talking no potentials, no weird crazy villain that you never really understand nor care about, no weird “Spike and Buffy aren’t a thing for good reason, and she doesn’t love him romantically BUT MAYBE SHE DOES OOOOH”. No, she can love him as a person, and encourage his redemption without them needing to cuddle all the time.

from what I’ve heard of the comics (I have a few, but haven’t read them yet), YEESH rewrite all of it, no thank you. (I’m sure there are good parts of the comics, but I’ve not heard about any, so this opinion will probably change when I’ve actually read them through!)

Of Angel:

season 4 and 5. No explanation necessary.
 
Buffy;

Season 1
Whats purpose of The Anointed one?More that child.


Season 2
made Jenny likable


Season 3
Angel leaves after The Prom

More Mr.Trick


Season 4
Maggie Walsch as the big bad instead of freaking Adam


Season 5
More Glory/Ben history(who are Ben's parents? When did Glory exiled?Why The other Gods choose Ben to host of Glory?How did Ben's parents cannot realized a freaking HELL GODNESS living indside of their child?)


Season 6
No Spuffy Sex.Willow perfectly erase Buffy's memories that she is in heaven.And Buffy is no longer depressed.(It was so sad to see Buffy like that)


Season 7
No Spike.Just delete him.
More Caleb




Angel;

Better treatment to major female characters

Less Connor in Season 4.

More Lorne

More Gwen Raiden

More Holland Manners
 
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Buffy Season 4. Buffy Season 4 by a mile.

I want to preface by saying that the one-offs in Season 4 were some of the best in the show, like Hush or Restless. I’m also aware that Season 4 struggled because of two core characters, Oz & Walsh, being cut back significantly due to actor requests.

That being said, Season 4 is missed potential central. There’s a lot outside of Walsh & Oz that could have been extremely interesting in the right climate, but was completely wasted.

1. The Initiative is probably the biggest missed opportunity in the season. Big reveal that the government is aware of these creatures and demons. The entire organization should have been the antagonists of the season. Walsh mentions upon meeting Buffy that their intel on the Slayer was that she was simply a rumor or legend. What should have happened instead is that the organization was aware of what the Slayer was, but sought to make a “better” Slayer who could be controlled. Hence, Adam. It feels like this is what the season is trying to do, but it never really commits to Adam being a weapon of the government, and instead claims he was some off the books project of Walsh.

2. Riley can also be improved if the later point is done. Now he is literally torn between an organization that is knowingly trying to replace the Slayer, and his love for the Slayer herself. Again, the season tiptoes around with this, but it never commits and says that the Initiative on the whole is evil; only Walsh and her henchman get that distinction.

3. There should have been an episode of Xander trying to go to college, but failing. His whole fear is that he is nothing but a failure, but it kind of feels like Xander was simply lacksidasical and chose not to go further with his life at times. Having an episode where he actually tried, failed, and had his failure complex reinforced would have really added to his character.

4. Faith & the Mayor should have been way more integral to the story. The dubious morality of the Watcher’s Council is on full display in Five by Five and Who Are You?, but it contrasts with the fact that they let Faith lay in the coma. Absolutely shocked that, especially given the Council’s “test” in Helpless, they didn’t just kill her in her sleep. A big part of the season should have been the repercussions of the school blowing up/the Mayor of Sunnydale being a giant snake demon and the moral conflict of how Buffy should deal with Faith’s unconscious body. That whole situation was, in part, Buffy’s fault to begin with.

5. I would keep Tillow exactly as it is because they are literal gold. <3
 
Get rid of Dawn and Connor. They both harmed the plot and the overall appeal of both shows.

Dawn
-It took a lot as the viewer to just accept that this was Buffy's sister when she was very much an only child from s1-4. I understand the show gave an explanation for this, but it never sat right with me because it doesn't only change the present it supposedly changes everything in the past which therefore means nothing technically would have played out the same way.
-Dawn needed to either exist from s1 or not at all.
-I actually do like the key and Glory storyline of s5 a lot, besides the Dawn of it all.
-My favorite way to make the season work is to have Angel be the key to open to all hell dimensions since we have seen that his blood already is the key to opening the Acathala hell dimension. But this time he would have a soul and he and Buffy would be in a happy committed relationship. This way we still get the emotional connection as to why Buffy does not want to sacrifice the key to save the world. She could get Angel's blood on her somehow in the final battle and still jump through the portal basically still completing her heroic suicide mission.
-Now I know Angel has his own show so the above is my wish for what would have happened. Realistically Tara could have been the key. She showed up in the middle of s4. They made her backstory a little ambiguous and then there is an emotional tie to Willow. So unfortunately with Tara being the key, the emotional pay off just isn't as good.
-One last way to fix the key storyline is to have the key energy put inside someone very close to Buffy (her mom, Giles, Willow, or Xander) so then we don't need this new person the audience doesn't even know and then the emotional tie to Buffy is still there.

Connor
-Everything post Darla having him that pertains to Connor is just a frickin nightmare.
-I cannot stand Connor (at least Dawn gets better as the series progresses, Connor never does until his memory is basically wiped)
-Connor serves no real purpose to the story besides this magical element that Darla is pregnant and we get her to sacrifice herself for her baby, but I could have done without this storyline
-If the writers wanted more Darla, just bring her back another way. She is clearly a fan favorite so no one is going to question why she is back
 
I'd rewrite Buffy S7 for sure. Get rid of the Potentials, have Andrew die horribly, and have Dawn be the one who saves the day.

As for Angel, I'd rewrite S4 (except for Spin the Bottle!)
 
BtVs Season 1;
-less Angel



BtVs Season 2
-Can I delete this season completly? Because This is my least favorite in all 12 season.



BtVs Season 3
-Less Angel
-More Mr.Trick



BtVs Season 4
-Maggie Walsch and The Initiative as big bad.Maggie was great.They should used her more.



BtVs Season 5
-Explore the relationship between Glory and Ben more




BtVs Season 6
-Less The Trio
-Don't destroy Amy Madison




BtVs Season 7
-More Caleb
-Made The First more threathing
-give Kennedy's screentime to Vi,Amanda or Chao-Ahn
-less Spike




AtS Season 1
-No Buffy Summers




AtS Season 2
-More Lindsey & Lilah rivalry




AtS Season 3
SERIOUSLY NOTHING.THIS SEASON PERFECTION



AtS Season 4
-More Jasmine as Gina Torres
-More Faith



AtS Season 5
-No Spike
-No Eve
-No Lindsey's derailment
-give us Cordy
-give us Lilah
-no taking W&H
 
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Great question. I think Buffy is really solid overall, but there would definitely be a few things I'd alter.

SEASON ONE
Generally I'd just clean this one up, deal with early-beginning weirdness characterization, and focus more on the horror aspect of the one-off episodes. I think Buffy needed to start off being kind of ridiculous and campy for greater emotional impact later when stuff like Prophecy Girl hits, but part of the beauty of that season is playing with traditional horror tropes and I'd like to focus on that even more.

SEASON TWO
Off the top of my head, the first thing I'd like to alter would be the placement of Go Fish, which feels so out of place. Also I'd cut Inca Mummy Girl entirely because what the ****. Other than that Two is pretty perfect.

SEASON THREE
The only change I can think of is to give Oz and Willow slightly more time before they get back together so it doesn't feel like Willow's forgiveness happens nigh-instantaneously. Other than that this season is so expertly plotted that everything else should stay exactly the same.

SEASON FOUR
Like literally everyone else has said, cut Adam and replace him with Walsh as the main antagonist. I do think that conceptually Adam is interesting and fits with the themes of the season - discovering identity and fluidity of personhood - but there's no reason you can't play with those themes with Walsh too, who's far more charismatic than Adam is and has a greater personal attachment to our heroes. I know everyone hates Riley but I'd keep him the same in this season - he's an important insight into the masculinity issues that plagues Buffy's male heroes, and him/Spike/Xander make up the important trifecta of Boys Buffy Symbolically Neuter.

SEASON FIVE
Five is also pretty expertly plotted, but I would rephrase some of how the Riley stuff functioned. Make him more clearly in-the-wrong rather than trying to present him as behaving entirely rationally and normally the whole time, and his exit being less "The one that got away" and more "****ed up impotent armyboy runs away from his own emasculation."

SEASON SIX
This season's my absolute favorite, but that doesn't make it without issue. I would probably cut Rack and make Willow's addiction to magic, while still being analogous to drug usage... slightly more, uh, subtle. Then, of course, there's the elephant in the room.

I like what Tara's death does for the narrative. Willow's rage is tragic and beautiful and the ending it presents to the season is fantastic. The issue is the usage of the "Dead Lesbian"/"Evil Lesbian" trope, which Seeing Red is an extremely blatant example of. Honestly I'm not sure how to fix this while keeping Willow's presence as the villain intact, but what I might have done back in 4 is make Xander gay and keep Willow in a relationship with Oz. I love Tara/Willow. It's adorable and lovely and serves both of their characters very well. But Willow needed to be gay significantly less than Xander did - it was less relevant to her overarching arc about addiction and control, whereas Xander's masculinity hangups were never properly resolved in a meaningful way and I think making this a result of repressing his sexuality would be a great way to deal with it. It also adds another layer of tragedy - Oz and Willow's relationship would survive so much - multiple bouts of cheating, several apocalypses, and four whole seasons of television - only for him to be killed by a stray bullet, of all things.

I think the Seeing Red AR scene needs to exist. It's the dramatic culmination of 6's hangups regarding consent and sex conflated-with-death. But I'd focus more on Buffy dealing with the trauma of it and less on Spike Feeling Bad About It. And that leads into what I'd change in Season 7 too.

SEASON SEVEN
I like Spike. Nevertheless, less focus on Spike's insanity, more Dawn and Anya, please. Trim the slayers, and focus way more on Amanda, too. And cut Killow, because... it's not good, even if I really do love the imagery of Willow's past coming to haunt her by turning into Warren after a kiss.
 
atiredonnie said:
I like what Tara's death does for the narrative. Willow's rage is tragic and beautiful and the ending it presents to the season is fantastic. The issue is the usage of the "Dead Lesbian"/"Evil Lesbian" trope, which Seeing Red is an extremely blatant example of. Honestly I'm not sure how to fix this while keeping Willow's presence as the villain intact, but what I might have done back in 4 is make Xander gay and keep Willow in a relationship with Oz.
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You know, I’ve heard that Tara’s death is an example of “kill the lesbian” trope, and I know that’s an issue that fans brought up upon original airing, but I just don’t see it. We’re talking about a show that defined what lesbian relationships should look like on television. The show that pushed boundaries, showing true lesbian affection, starting from an organic meet-cute (Wicca group) into a very solid relationship, that had actual issues (Willow’s addiction), where the couple breaks up and gets back together. Now I understand the timing of the death is an issue—right after getting back together. But overall, I’m a show that had always been about showing this relationship as a normal relationship and not being all “special episode” about it, having this unexpected death that happens to be from a lesbian relationship is almost opposite of “dead lesbian” syndrome. It Exemplifies that this relationship was like any other relationship and normal, and this includes killing off a character for emotional impact, and not at the expense of lesbianism. In fact, Willow continues to assert her lesbianism past Tara, showcasing that it was not some “experiment,” but it was about who she was.

And while the assumption that “all Wiccans must be lesbians” could be an argument against Willow’s gayness, I really think her being gay came about organically, whereas with Xander, it doesn’t really fit the character for me. I think this is because even before the storyline came about, VampWillow had lesbian undertones, which showcased this could be a possible trajectory for Willow. Beyond that, as her magic grew, her confidence in herself and who she was grew, allowing her to experiment and explore her lesbian side. I don’t think we would get the same payoff with Xander.
 
Buffy Season 4: The Initiative feels weirdly disconnected and Adam feels even less connected. Adam's death because of that fusion thing was a really interesting idea that I think could be revisited or better built up to, and not just in character arcs but also in lore exploration. Further on Adam (and I guess Maggie too) is a more Frankenstein and the Monster dynamic.

Overall, I'd say some more hints at a wider scope. I know that the series did have a budget, so they had to limit the focus, and the scope does a real good job at providing apt metaphors for the show's themes. But, I feel the lore becoming a little constricting as the series went on. Also sometimes a little disconnected. I don't know, maybe like a nod at how the Watchers can only track things they are a ware of, or the Initiative having to work with/against more occult forces... like seriously, a military body would have some interest in a law firm in a major US city up to no good.
 
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Buffy Season 1- Make 22 episodes long; expand on Darla, The Master, Angel, Jenny/Giles, Joyce, Cordelia. Have a few more episodes with interesting high school/hell metaphor.

Buffy Season 2 -make Angelus much more threatening/menacing/sadistic. Drusilla sires Kendra instead of slitting her throat. Buffy still has to stake Kendra...or she gets away with Drusilla and Spike...and returns in Season 3 when Faith shows up.

Buffy Season 3- I'd probably leave this season alone, except if Vamp Kendra survived Becoming and showed up early in this season.

Buffy Season 4-in the I in Team, Adam knocks Maggie out; he doesn't skewer her. He keeps her chained up in 314 and experiments on her, torturing her until the end of the season when he makes her like him (part demon/human/machine).

Buffy Season 5- like season 3, I wouldn't rewrite season 5 at all really.

Buffy Season 6- somehow make Dark Willow much more scary; after Willow kills Rack, Amy attacks her with magic (big fight). Willow doesn't flay Warren, she sends him to a hell/torture/prison dimension where she can basically keep him alive...so she never technically kills him.

Buffy Season 7- have Jonathan kill Andrew instead of Andrew kill Jonathan... even though Andrew is more believable to have been manipulated by the First, I think Jonathan deserved to be in s7 more than Andrew and I like Jonathans character better. make the Turok Hans scarier. Rona turns into a vampire, kills three potentials; Caleb kills her, coming in a few episodes earlier than in Dirty Girls. Caleb preaches in underground Church to Harbinger/Cult People. Have more callbacks to season 1 high School monsters of the week.
 
Buffy season 6 and 7. I love a lot about 6, and I like some of the early standalone episodes in season 7, but with all the lore we got dumped on us in season 7, I think they should have started some of it in 6. After all, The First was able to come back because Buffy got brought back. They could have showed some of The First's early plans in season 6, and started on the attacks of The Council and Potentials then. The First could have also started to approach certain characters like Willow, and that connection could have been part of the reason she started to go dark.

I would have skipped Caleb entirely. The whole woman-hating, southern preacher was cliché and ridiculous. The only part I loved was when Buffy killed him and then told Angel "He had to split." Or if they were going to introduce him, they could have included more backstory. He was evil but it was more told than shown to us.

And I don't know where they should have placed it - maybe in 7 - but I would have liked to have seen some more on the Watchers Council and how they decide which Potentials end up living with Watchers. Like maybe an episode where they knew Buffy was a Potential Slayer and then they discussed if they wanted to approach her parents or not. We know Kendra was sent to live with her Watcher, but why some and not others? Does the Council reach out to them or what? And if so, what is their deciding factor? What are their deciding factors for choosing which Watcher gets assigned to a Slayer too?

I also disliked Oz being underutilized the entire time he was in the series. He's just kind of there. Although I like him at times, there just isn't enough done with him, and in turn, not enough done with Willow and Oz either.

As for Angel, I probably wouldn't have included Spike in season 5. I think it completely threw of the dynamic. Maybe a guest star bit where he's in a few episodes then goes on his merry way, but not a series regular. I definitely would have included Cordelia in the series again too.

And while Buffy had really good standalone episodes, I think outside of season 1 and a few in later seasons, Angel didn't succeed as well there. I think Angel would have benefitted from much shorter seasons, especially when the season 2 focus was around Darla coming back as human and Angel trying to save her, and then season 3 her being pregnant and having to 'give birth' to Connor. And I know a lot of people hate season 4 of Angel, but it's one of the only seasons that has a season-long arc, which is personally one of the reasons I liked it so much.

Also, a proper backstory on Wolfram & Hart. We get it. They're evil. They've been around for ages, but I would have liked MORE.
 
T
thrasherpix
Combining 6 and 7 more could also provide a reason why Giles has to leave that would feel in character to me.
Its a toss up between 6 and 7 hated the whole horrid sex thing between Buffy and Spike in S6 nothing shown like it before? yet we had Anya and Xander going at it like Bunnies and lesbian sex Willow and Tara , never classed the trio as the big bad in S6 that in my view that went to Spike for his treatment and rape of Buffy I say rape as that is what Spike intended to do to Buffy fortunately she was unable to fight him off , The trio was a bit ridicules and childish until the whole drug rape thing and murder, Willow should have been able to get all three as they were all guilty , and Buffy should have saved the world, I would of had more council involved after all Giles was being paid to be her watcher and just leaving Buffy having no contact with anyone???
S7 started OK 2 of my favourite episodes but after CWDP went on to become the Spike show why was he capture by the first, why did a few episodes from the end of S7 did we have to have his life story and not time for what ? The whole AR was so under played which should have had more time spent on it , why couldn't any of the potentials act, why did the first need celeb and why Andrew is left living at the end
So leave out a load of the Spike crap more made of the battle at the end, Buffy contacted Riley to get Spikes chip out but not when she went and opened the hell mouth ?? why not have military present ? and Buffy saving the world
 
xxstaindrosesxx said:
I also disliked Oz being underutilized the entire time he was in the series. He's just kind of there. Although I like him at times, there just isn't enough done with him, and in turn, not enough done with Willow and Oz either.
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Wasn't that part of the reason Seth bailed out? He had little to do on the show?
It is a shame because I thought he fit in nicely with the Scoobies and I loved his relationship with Willow.

I sometimes wonder what the show would've been like with him if he had stuck around.
 
Didn't they have some longer wolfy-arc planned for him and Veruca? But it was sped up so he could leave?
 
Buffy

S1: I would adjust the cheesy monsters and odd lines of dialogue.

S2: Aside from 'Bad Eggs' and 'Go Fish' this season was quite perfect to me.

S3: Again, nothing big. Season 3 was satisfying enough.

S4: Yeah, Adam was lame.

S5: They could have made Spike a little less pathetic in this one. And had Riley leave sooner.

S6: I'd replace the nerd trio with a trio of villains who are actually scary.

S7: I would make the Potentials a little more likeable. And have a Big Bad Buffy could actually kill. Cos it didn't feel like the First was truly vanquished. Oh, and there's Robin Wood. Enough said...


Angel

S1: I would peform a Kate Lockley-ectomy.

S2: Again, Kate Lockley-ectomy.

S3: More exciting episodes. Remove Holtz's pointless gang.

S4: Kept a little conflict between Angel and Connor, but had Connor resolve his 'daddy issues' and become a much more likeable character. And there should have been more of Gwen. Like, way more!

S5. Buffy and Spike reunion!!!

That's all, folks.
 
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